CIENEGUILLA, GALISTEO, CERRILLOS, GOLDEN

We first visit the Capilla de San Antonio de La Cieneguilla, which was built as a private votive chapel around 1820 by Pablo Mora and Ana María Herrera Mora on their Spanish land grant farm. Our visit is hosted by descendants Larie Mora and Steve Mora and is guided by former mayordomo José L. Villegas, Sr. We also briefly visit the adjacent La Cieneguilla Pueblo archeological site; information on the site is here and here.

The tour after Cieneguilla is guided by the parish pastor, Father Adrian Sisneros, with a first stop at Nuestra Señora de los Remedios in Galisteo, built in 1884. Among the many attributes of the church’s unique and intriguing interior are two well-preserved paintings on elk or buffalo hide, one of which is dated 1602.

From Galisteo we drive twenty minutes to St. Joseph in Los Cerrillos, which has a coved tin ceiling, stained glass, modern statuary, artisanal stations of the cross, and an outdoor Marian shrine with wooden folk sculptures in grottos. Lunch on your own follows: bring your meal and sit in the shrine courtyard or eat at Black Bird Saloon or Mine Shaft Tavern.

Our last stop is at the nearby and exceptionally charming San Francisco de Asís in Golden. The original church was built around 1830, rebuilt around 1910, and then redesigned and rebuilt after Fray Angélico Chávez was assigned to the parish in 1959. Chávez described the rebuilt church as “a sermon in stone,” hoping that its charm, its promontory setting, and its location on a newly built scenic highway would inspire passers-by to stop and pray. Proceeds from ticket revenue benefit restorations in Golden and in Cieneguilla.